Blood In Urine From Subq Fluids Treatment!! Is This Dangerous?

My cat just received a subQ fluids treament about 7 hours ago. I have a litter system that provides pee pads as sliding trays underneath the litter. I checked to see how much was coming out and there are two large deposits of blood-soaked pee in the pads. Like maybe 8" in diameter. The tech that conducted the process told me that the large needle produced considerable blood at the injection site and she didn't return my cat to me until the blood in the injection site had coagulated. Now I'm thinking the blood entered the solution and has now flowed through his entire body. He's acting somewhat quiet, but not vomiting, etc. Vet's offices are closed. My only other option is emergency clinic, but I'm hoping that there's no real scare as these visits are expensive. Can anyone offer an educated explanation?

Hi! Welcome!! I'm not a member who can provide an explanation, but
if you call your vet clinic and listen to their voice mail greeting, hopefully they provide an after-hours emergency number so that you can talk to a person.

If they don't, keep an eye on the litter box to see if there's more blood in the urine, if so you may want to call the emergency clinic. Bloody pee could be from something entirely different. Hang in there!!

Hello,
it's not possible that the blood in urine come from the subq injection. Subcutaneous fluids (and blood as well) are absorbed locally.
Urine is filtered by kidney starting from blood itself. If you see blood in your cat's pee it HAS TO come from the urinary tract, lower of higher.

I can guarantee that the blood in the urine did not come the subQ. If your kitty has blood in the urine, it is coming from the urinary tract, kidneys or bladder, somewhere in the urinary system, as Noirele mentioned.

Thank you and Noirele for clarifying the condition. The urine seems to have cleared in the pan and he's acting fairly normal, so I'm not treating this as an emergency yet. I have a message into my vet to discuss. With your helpful background oh, I feel better prepared to discuss this.

Let us know what they say

CoxFor said:

My cat just received a subQ fluids treament about 7 hours ago. I have a litter system that provides pee pads as sliding trays underneath the litter. I checked to see how much was coming out and there are two large deposits of blood-soaked pee in the pads. Like maybe 8" in diameter. The tech that conducted the process told me that the large needle produced considerable blood at the injection site and she didn't return my cat to me until the blood in the injection site had coagulated. Now I'm thinking the blood entered the solution and has now flowed through his entire body. He's acting somewhat quiet, but not vomiting, etc. Vet's offices are closed. My only other option is emergency clinic, but I'm hoping that there's no real scare as these visits are expensive. Can anyone offer an educated explanation?

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i can't imagine how sub q fluids could cause this. that being said, we've been doing our cats sub q's for years, and we use the smallest possible needle for HK's comfort - we use italian needs with a larger bore so we can get away with small needles, and it only takes 2 1/2 to 3 minutes to do a fill - it would be faster but we control the speed so it's not uncomfortable. we've given HK sub q fluids several hundred times without ever having any bleeding at all, and we're not vet techs.

it appears that IF they use a large needle, your vet's office isn't concerned with the animals' comfort, and to me that's a big red flag and time to find another vet. it also seems to me that if there was bleeding, the tech isn't very good, also something that would concern me. there's a rougher tech at our current vet's who i will not allow to touch HK.

Yes, the blood is not from the sub Q, perhaps the cat rolled over, etc, and maybe pushed some of the bloody fluid out of the sub Q site? There is not supposed to be bleeding with a sub q, they hit a vein. The needle is supposed to be slid between the skin and the body, forming a large bubble, not into the body! is she being treated for a bladder/urinary tract infection? That would explain the blood, but she would then need an antibiotic. I would definitely get hold of that vet when you can and tell tehm what happened.

Yes I agree. The vet said that the needle was 18 gauge and that to use anything less would take forever. I will be discussing the tech's poor skills with the vet also. he doesn't get sub Q treatments regularly so this is a new experience for me. I've learned on this Forum that the blood isn't connected to the Sub-Q treatment unless the extra fluids stressed his kidneys in some way. It's really disheartening when we as pet owners have to become so educated in their care and we can't necessarily trust the advice of professionals.

No, the blood deposits are a full pee ring in the pee pads which is below the litter granules, so there's no way it could have seeped out from the injection. My cat has always had good urinalysis and blood work relating to kidneys so this is a total puzzle. I had noticed of late that there seems to be a lot of urine, but he is not demonstrating any of the other symptoms relating to diabetes.

A followup to my previous posts. My vet confirmed that there's no connection between the bloody pee pads and the subQ fluid treatment. I've changed vet. The current one cannot diagnose about the bloody urine without further testing, of course, but since there's been no other indications, I'm giving him a rest from the poking and prodding over the past few weeks. She did comment that perhaps the stress and rough handling may have stressed his kidneys. From here on out, I will administer the subQ fluid treatments myself AND buy the appropriate sized needle. Basschick: I would love to know where you purchase your Italian needles or at least the size. I've learned a lot from these responses. Thank you so much!

your vet sounds like an ass! but hope you didn't burn your bridges - lactated ringers solution and needles require a prescription.

we use these from this store
NEEDLE,20 X 1, TERUMO, 100/BX
but they're on backorder. perhaps you can find them at another store - they made things much more comfortable for HK. there's a seller who has them on amazon, but they only have 2 reviews, and 1 doesn't inspire confidence. another seller is backordered till june.

shopmedvet does have 1 size smaller. you could ask them if they're also larger bore - our 20's can actually fill HK too fast.

good luck!

i'm editing this to say how furious i am at a vet's office where the vet thinks a cat could be peeing blood due to someone in their own office's rough handling - GRRRRRRRRR

basschick said:

the vet thinks a cat could be peeing blood due to someone in their own office's rough handling

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Maybe that assistant is no longer there

I may have confused you in my recent reply. I mentioned that I changed vets. Without further test she could not give me a diagnosis regarding the blood in the urine. But she did say perhaps the PREVIOUS vet that I used and the technician at that clinic may have caused the blood through stressful handling. I agree, it sounds far-fetched but I'm not willing to do any further testing and he seems fine now. So I may never know what caused the bloody urine.

oh, I see, thanks for the clarification